Microsoft cleared by UK watchdog to buy 'Call of Duty' maker

Watchdog finally approves $69bn deal but criticises tech giant for its tactics

Call of Duty on a laptop
CMA's decision brings an end to Microsoft's near two-year bid to secure the gaming industry's biggest-ever takeover
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Microsoft's new offer to buy "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard has been approved by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), bringing an end to a near two-year bid to secure the gaming industry's biggest-ever takeover.

The approval follows a "restructuring of the deal" and a "major concession made by Microsoft" to the regulators, said PC Mag. This comes after the CMA blocked the original $69bn (£59bn) bid in April over concerns that Microsoft, which makes the Xbox console, would dominate the new cloud gaming market.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.